The Implementation of Vegetable Gardening in Schools and Its Impact

A garden is a planned outdoor space intended to cultivate, exhibit, and appreciate plants and other natural features of nature. Gardening increases endurance and strength, relieves stress, and promotes relaxation. It might also help to awaken your interest in the vast outdoors. While you are in the garden, you will be happy and excited.

A pleasant day to all of you, my dear hive friends especially to the generous and hardworking people in this community. How's your life going on? I hope that you are in good health and safe all the time. Today, I will share how our school implemented the GULAYAN SA PAARALAN PROGRAM or VEGETABLE GARDENING IN SCHOOL. This program is one component of the National Greening Program.

NGP is the government's flagship program to decrease poverty, boost food security, environmental stability, and biodiversity protection, and improve climate change mitigation and adaptation. All government agencies were tasked to implement this program. One component of this program is the Gulayan sa Paaralan or Vegetable gardening in school. The program was implemented successfully with the full support, participation, and involvement of all teachers, parents, SSG officers, and other stakeholders. As a result, we have been named the top GULAYAN SA PAARALAN implementer in the entire District and Division.

The Gulayan sa Paaralan Program is an activity that promotes vegetable cultivation on school campuses, appropriate nutrition, and the elimination of student hunger. It also plans to build school gardens as a primary source of nutrients. We are all aware that most of our learners originated from low-income families and are more prone to drop out due to hunger and malnutrition. It also increases the perceived worth of gardening, labor, and caring for others in the views of teachers, parents, and students.

The Activities Undertaken During Program Implementation

A. Pre- Implementation Phase

1. Orientation of Gulayan sa Paaralan
2. Creating various committee and technical working group
3. Budget allocation
4. Land/Container preparation; teachers initiate cleaning the garden area and cultivation of the soil.
5. Select the area or space for planting.
6. Construction of School Nursery
7. Identify varieties of vegetables, fruit-bearing trees, and medicinal plants based on considered and available factors like the soil, weather condition, and area.
8. Encourages parents and SSG /SPG officers to support and participate in planting and maintaining their designated garden plots.
9. animal manure and rice hay as a source of organic fertilizer.

B. Developmental Phase

1. Planting Media Preparation
2. Gathered bamboo for making fences and walls.
3. Construct garden design with the help of teachers.
4. Created compost pit and dumped bio-gradable waste, animal manure, and rice hay to have natural fertilizer.
5. Integration of landscaping and waste recycling.

C. Post-Developmental Phase

1. Request the PTA President for an additional seedling.
2. Continue the gardening and managerial system in maintaining the project.
3. Encourages the learners to care for and maintain the project.

Teachers, learners, and parents taught to produce vegetables in containers such as mineral bottles, garden plots, and others. They will also observe the correct fertilizer management, water management, weed management, insect and disease control measures, entrepreneurial activities, proper ground preparation, soil sterilization, seed sowing, and transplanting.

Vegetables planted include eggplant, okra, squash, upo, ampalaya malunggay, green leafy vegetables, spices, herbs, and fruit trees such as Langka and Jackfruit. Teachers, learners, and parents were also encouraged to engage in backyard gardening at home and apply gardening best practices taught in school. It is also a part of sharing responsibilities and implementing vegetable consumption among their community for a healthy and balanced diet.

As part of the GULAYAN SA PAARALAN concept, the schools' included landscaping and waste recycling. Teachers of all ages were so anxious about their health during the pandemic that it harmed their well-being. According to the findings, gardening can benefit everyone, including social benefits, better mental well-being, nutritional benefits, and physical activity that enhances social and physical health.

Teachers were enthusiastic about gardening. There satisfaction increased significantly after exposing and participating in hands-on school-based gardening. They believed gardening activities were beneficial to a person's health and well-being. The importance of engaging in gardening activities to increase social connection, communication, motivation, task engagement, stress relief, and overall health and well-being is a recurring theme among teacher participants. It's motivating to consider starting a garden at home.

Gardening can also be used in classroom sessions to help students understand how gardening can boost their academic performance and point them in the proper way of dealing with life's challenges. As a result of this project, Gulayan sa Paaralan, the school campus landscaping was improved. Vegetable gardens were established in various locales, producing food that is both healthy and safe. Teachers had the option to participate in organic farming. The school was able to turn a profit. As the project continued to build a secure and healthy environment, the program maintained the cooperation that had been built among teachers, parents, and learners.

That's all for this article. Thanks for reading. God bless!